The Sit&Tell Project

Through a partnership with AIGA Toledo + MTS Seating in collaboration with The Arts Commission, The Sit&Tell Projectis a multi-participatory community project that utilizes the metaphor of a chair as an invitation for friendship and communication. The project collected 100 stories as told by Toledo citizens as storytellers on World Storytelling Day, March 20, 2016 under the global theme of Strong Women. These stories were shared by many who benefited from strong women in their lives. After the storytelling event, the recorded stories were given to a juried pool of designers and artists to visualize artwork for 100 chairs. Each chair includes a custom URL to access the audio, the art and artist statement. From November 1 through 28th an online auction of the chairs was held to benefit art programming for youth through The Arts Commission. The project successfully raised $7,500.00 and I look forward to seeing the arts grow and thrive through these young minds.

Chair 100 of The Sit&Tell Project based on the story told by Kirstey Wilson, my niece,about my mother-in-law, Sharon Stucker. Both are amazing women in my life. // 2016Photo by Dave Lehman

I Can + I Do // Chair 65

This is a collaborative chair created with my daughter, Abby Stucker, based on the story told by Katie Dennis.Katie is a Toledo Reign football player. // 2016Photo by Dave Lehman

Gracias Hermanas // Chair 12

This is a collaborative chair created with Amy Fidler, based on the story told by Dora Lopez.Her story is an acknowledgement of all women, "Thank You my sisters" // 2016Photo by Dave Lehman

Sept. 24 // Closing Exhibition

All 100 chairs were part of a closing exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art Glass PavilionSaturday, September 24, 2016Photo by Matt Rowland

Closing Exhibition Reception

What a wonderful turnout to support all of the artists and storytellers.Photo by Matt Rowland

Video Shoot

So thankful for the BGSU Digital Arts Division for assisting in the closing video!Well done Margaret Lockwood-Lass, Fernanda Ruocco and Michael Kopp.

Collateral Material

One of the many materials produced for the project. Chair feature is chair 1 by artist Zach Minnich and storyteller Yusuf Lateef.

Tell us your story

Our open call for storytellers.

Getting social

On Instagram and Facebook, we posted a chair a day for 100 days throughout the summer of 2016.

The Arts Commission

The Toledo Strategic Plan for Arts & Culture is a 68-page document outlining The City of Toledo and The Arts Commission's plans for Celebrating Creative Communities. My visual approach for the plan was to present a vibrant and positive guide that would be inspirational for the future of Toledo. The horizontal format of the design was structured in consideration for an interactive PDF version. Several custom collages utilizing Toledo landmarks were created for the plan. A smaller, 12 page Executive Summary and promotional postcard were also developed for the big launch of the initiative.

You Are Here Toledo

Many of us are quite familiar with the red circle and “You Are Here” dot affixed to many directories throughout America. These dots are wonderful assurances that we are, in fact, somewhere. Funded by the City of Toledo’s One Percent for Art Program, and proudly presented by AIGA Toledo + The Arts Commission, the You Are Here Toledo Project (YAH) was a series of large one-of-a-kind outdoor “dots” affixed to various public sidewalks throughout Toledo to promote positivity and enhance our sense of place. Using the circular shape of a dot (at three feet in diameter); Northwest Ohio artists, designers, and students were asked to make a powerful visual statement in response to their assigned dot’s location. One hundred (100) dots mark the city, each containing a QR (quick response) code that allows smartphone users to learn more about the artwork, its location and its artist. For non-smartphone users each dot has the project’s URL for searching the work at their convenience. The project was unique to Toledo and showcased the amazing artistic talent and places of this region.

The You Are Here Project was created in 2012 and has been recognized in several local publications and has earned special honors like: Innovation Award ($5,000 unrestricted grant for future projects) from the Toledo Blade and Toledo Community Foundation; and Newsmaker of 2012 in both the Toledo Free Press and The City Paper as well as a national case study feature on AIGA's Design For Good website and AIGA's Facebook feature in March 2013.

Outstanding Merit AwardHOW MagazineInternational Design Awards2013

YAH Postcards // 6" x 4.25" // 2012

Three foot circular dotsA small sampling of the 100 YAH dots created for the City.

YAH receives Outstanding recognition in HOW International Design Awards // March 2013

12 Commandments

Design and the Creation of Value by John Heskett has been part of my bedside reading material as of late. I invite all of you to read it. More than ever I feel poised to advocate for design’s integral role in creating not only economic value, but its value in the human experience as well. These design quotes are reminders for designers and others about the process, thinking and meaningful purpose design has in our lives.

Thank you to Interrupt Marketing and Gallery for continued support and for another invitation to share my work as part of the Red Bird Art Walk in Sylvania, OH for April 2018.

12 Commandments // 13 x 19 Digital Prints // 2018

12 Commandments // 13 x 19 Digital Prints // 2018

12 Commandments // 13 x 19 Digital Prints // 2018

12 Commandments // 13 x 19 Digital Prints // 2018

12 Commandments // 13 x 19 Digital Prints // 2018

12 Commandments // 13 x 19 Digital Prints // 2018

Finding My Balance

This iPhone (lo-fi) work comes from my "leisure" or at least from the point of when I have only set out to be somewhere. I am absorbing spaces and places that are meeting me at my eye; where a form, a color or a moment has captivated my attention from the other presences around me. I am finding my life especially chaotic now more than ever, so the forced symmetry in these works delights me with a brief resolve of solace.

On Wednesdays We Wear PinkBirthday clean-up on the garage floor // 2017

BGSU Materials

As a faculty member of Bowling Green State University's School of Art Graphic Design Division AND a practicing graphic designer, I value the moments when I can serve the University through presenting content as well.

The Division of Graphic Design in the School of Art at Bowling Green State University (BGSUGD) is a dynamic, progressive and responsive professional BFA in Graphic Design degree-granting program that encourages independent and collaborative thinking, creative problem solving/analytics and design, creative writing, design for the public good, exploration of alternative visual communication methods, and a solid understanding of modern professional practices. The curriculum reflects the dynamic social and professional changes of contemporary design and responds to them in a pro-active manner through a continually evolving curriculum.

AIGA Design Educator Conference & Materials

Nuts + Bolts, was a national AIGA Design Education conference held June 14-16, 2016 at Bowling Green State University for emerging and established design educators, administrators, students, and designers to strip away the mystique of academia and help build a solid foundational knowledge of discipline-specific teaching methods. Emerging and seasoned educators engaged in faculty mentoring and collaboration through direct conversation, with workshops, panels and sessions designed to help move careers, and the field of the design teaching profession, forward. Participants were encouraged to share their challenges and achievements with others, uncover our educational shortcomings, identify our responsibilities, and offer pathways to solutions, all for the greater good of design and the global community. Speakers included Audrey Bennett, Deb Littlejohn, Geoff Kaplan and Louise Sandhaus.

As stated by Louise Sandhaus :: "Response_ability was exceptionally well-organized with and excellent balance of food, fun, and fulfilling ideas that provided productive and meaningful substance to enhance our understanding of responsibility and response ability. The event included many of the most recognized efforts taking place towards ethics and sustainability in design education today including The Living Principles, the outcome status of Designers Accord Global Summit on Design Education & Sustainability, and included a working session on AIGA Standards of Teaching development. Rick Poynor, Rick Valicenti, and Nathan Shedroff presented varied and substantive perspectives on ways in which sustainability might be understood along with 4 periods of breakout sessions that allowed for varied and thoughtful perspectives and experiences from individual educators."

Design + Development of conference identity.Buttons made by Alex Christian

AIGA Design Educators Conference :: Nuts+Bolts 2016

48-page conference brochure // 8.5 x 11

AIGA Design Educators Conference :: Nuts+Bolts 2016

Some social media feedback from our attendees. :)

AIGA Toledo :: response_ability conference 2010

Materials created for AIGA Design Educator's Conference held in Toledo, OHBlack ink only // May 2010

AIGA Toledo Works

AIGA, the Professional Association for Design, advances design as a professional craft, strategic advantage and vital cultural force. As the largest community of design advocates, we bring together practitioners, enthusiasts, and patrons to amplify the voice of design and create the vision for a collective future. We define global standards and ethical practices, guide design education, enhance professional development, and make powerful tools and resources accessible to all.

Established on October 1, 2007, the Toledo chapter was formed with the intent to connect Toledo area designers locally and to make a difference right here – where we live and work.

One of AIGA Toledo special events has been hosting a summer design show since 2008. The purpose of the shows are to give area graphic designers and artists an opportunity to flex their creative muscles in unique styles and formats. Aside from the Urban Forest Project, the Downtown Windows Project and the You Are Here project, the following shows have been some of my favorites to participate in ::

Dynamic Monotones

These hand-cut collage works, Dynamic Monotones, were inspired by an obsession and passion for chroma, geometric forms and organic interruptions. Each collage is a one-of-a-kind composition from individual cut pieces of paper found in everyday life mixed with moments of vinyl, tape and India ink. Visual contrast, negative space, hierarchy, texture and value are engaged in a dance of whimsy and tension. Titles of oxymorons serendipitously capture the mercurial energy deployed in these compositional juxtapositions.

Dynamic Alphabet

The spirit of my Dynamic Monotones works weren't quite finished working their way through my system thus I was compelled to create an alphabet series. Several of these letters have found their way into the collections of friends, former students and family. I hope the joy I felt in their making will transcend into the spaces of their new found homes.

SWEAT Workshop

The Summer Workshop for Experimentation and Thought is a graphic design workshop designed to give participants the opportunity to collaborate, create compelling, poignant work, and engage in some summer fun. And, as with all hard work, a little SWEAT is required. During the summer workshop, participants are introduced to an overall design objective where creative collaboration determines how the project will be completed. Workshop outcomes typically include two formal outputs of design making, from books, videos, murals to exhibitions.

This is a collection of some of my contributions to SWEAT Workshop projects as a participant and co-leader since 2007. To see the full body of SWEAT projects visit our website :: www.sweatworkshop.com

11 x 14 hand-built collages based on the form of Hammer #51, a technical manual and daily tensions.

Seed Installation

Cosmic Dance (2012) is an installation work located at Seed Coworking in Toledo, OH. This work was inspired by the AIGA Toledo Portfolio Review Day poster designed by Michael Gump Jr. in 2010. After discovering 105 remnant posters sitting in the BGSU Graphic Design Division storage space and requesting permission from Mike, I was compelled to re-purpose his work by deconstructing the posters and eliminating all typographic references to isolate purely color forms. These new forms were installed at Seed for cultivating an organic essence in this very digital space.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo

Since 2002 I have had the honor to work with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo on their Barefoot at the Beach event materials. This gorgeous event on the shore of Lake Erie at Maumee Bay State Park is one of the largest fundraising events in all of Northwest Ohio. Every winter I get to work with the incomparable Billy Mann to develop fun and memorable materials for the summer event.

Through my years of working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo I was asked to design graphic panels for the recently remodeled main branch of the Clubs on Detroit Avenue. The work included ten 10 foot x 10 foot panels that included youthful and active silhouetted figures incorporated with typographic forms on each panel spelling Boys & Girls. There was also an eleventh panel at 12 foot x foot by the Club pool which incorporated the organization's logo.

Urban Forest Project Toledo

In Spring 2010, The Urban Forest Project planted banners by local artists and designers on light poles throughout Toledo. Each banners used the form or metaphor for the tree to make a powerful visual statement about the environment. Together they created a forest of thoughtful images in the urban landscape and raise awareness of sustainability and youth mentoring.

The banners were hung on light poles in a series of high-traffic locations in the greater Toledo area mid-April, in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. The banners have since come down, and are to be recycled into unique tote bags designed exclusively for the project. Sales from the product will benefit the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo (ACGT) to support their Young Artists At Work Program (YAAW). Presented on this page are my juried-in submissions to the project.

Good Things Come in Trees Messenger Bag // 2010(My mother custom made all 100 bags for the project)

Beauty Bar

Created in 2002 by Sara and Joe Spallino, Beauty Bar is a high quality salon and beauty apothecary located in Toledo, OH. During their formative years I was instrumental in developing the salon brand (Beauty Bar) and packaging brand (Sara's Beauty Bar) of their products. In 2006, Sara and Joe bravely set out to make their own custom scrubs, body wash and body butters which were sold on HSN and included in the 2007 Grammy Swag bags for celebrities. Next time you are in need of a great cut or some cool beauty gear, check them out! http://www.beauty-bar.com/shop/